- tad viddhi praṇipātena
- paripraśnena sevayā
- updekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
- jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
- (BG 4.34)
Unless you approach a person who is representative of Kṛṣṇa and tattva-darśī, who has seen the truth, jñānī, and full of knowledge, from him you can understand what is Bhagavad-gītā, what is Bhagavān. Otherwise you cannot understand. Nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ (BG 7.25). If you remain covered by the material energy, then you cannot understand Bhagavad-gītā. The purpose of Bhagavad-gītā is to understand real religious life. Religion means the order which is given by God to carry out. That is religion. Those who are unknown of this fact, they are not religious. They may be some faith or blind belief, but religion means dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇitam (SB 6.3.19). Religion means the order, or the law, given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is religion.
So to know God, the God, He is personally giving instruction how to know God. Kṛṣṇa says, bhagavān uvāca. Here it is not. . . Vyāsadeva is not speaking; Kṛṣṇa said. Because sometimes Kṛṣṇa is misunderstood; therefore Vyāsadeva writes or says in this connection, bhagavān uvāca. Bhagavān means the fully opulent, samagrasya. Aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47): He is the most powerful, the supreme rich, supreme wise, supreme beautiful and at the same time supremely renounced. These qualification makes one Bhagavān. So kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). That is the verdict of Vedic literature. So īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Bhagavān is also sometimes called Parameśvara.